How to Build an Outdoor Adobe Oven

Adobe ovens are simple and inexpensive to build. They can often be made from materials that you can find in your own backyard. They have been used in the American Southwest for thousands of years to bake breads and other foods. Read on to learn how to build an outdoor adobe oven.

Things You'll Need

• Sand and clay mixture
• Wood

Instructions

1. Test the dirt in your backyard to see if it is appropriate for making an adobe oven. To do this, fill a glass jar halfway with dirt. Fill the rest of the jar with water. Shake the jar well, and allow it to sit until the dirt has separated into its individual sediments. Heavier elements like sand will settle on the bottom. Clay will come to the top. You want a mixture that is about 70 percent sand and 30 percent clay. Add more sand or clay to your dirt to reach these proportions.

2. Add water to the right mixture of sand and clay. Set it aside, and allow it to solidify in the sun while you move on to the next step.

3. Build a frame for the oven out of wood. The wood is going to burn away in the final steps of making the oven, so don't concern yourself with the kind you use. First build a base with a hole in it that will allow you to insert wood for burning. The size of oven you make is up to you and depends on the amount of bread you plan to bake. The hearth you are building should take up about 2/5 of the oven's size. Be sure to leave a space in the back where you can add a chimney to let the smoke out. Now build the oven on top of the hearth.

4. Cover your frame with the sand and clay mixture you made. Cover the top of the wood that separates the hearth from the oven. Leave a small temperature control hole at the top of the oven. Construct a chimney to let smoke out of the hearth.

5. Allow the sand and clay mixture to dry in the sun. Once it is dry, put some wood in the hearth and light it. The fire will burn off the wood frame you built, leaving behind an adobe oven.

Tips & Warnings

• Paint the outside of your adobe oven to personalize it.

• Keep the oven in a place where its heat won't catch something on fire.